abby elliott

For whatever reason, I had a feeling that Saturday night's show was going to be one of the better efforts of the season. Maybe I'm psychic! (Unfortunately, I'm not psychic.) Too often, when making 'SNL' predictions, the discussions break down into either, "Well, he's funny," or, "She was great in this movie, ergo, she will be a terrific 'SNL' host." (For the record, I may be the only person alive who instigates these type of discussions.) Here's really the most important intangible of being a great 'SNL' host: playing well with others. Charlie Day played well with others. So much so that everyone got themselves into the act this week, which, with a cast this big, is rare. But that's what made it good! So, with that, on to this week's slightly crowded Relevancy Poll...

Saturday night's show was, frankly, atrocious. But right at the very moment of our darkest hour, a hero would rise up. A hero who, almost single-handedly, made 'SNL' something to talk about this week. Now, this person didn't ask to be a hero – all he really asked for was some sweets – but, sometimes, legends come out of the most unexpected places. Our hero's name is Lord Cecil Wyndemere. After four weeks, it's more than apparent that 'SNL" needs some shakeups and so does this poll. And, really, it seems like the only real life that's been in the show so far this season has come from the newer cast members. Case in point: Saturday's show was dead on arrival, but, Paul Brittain enters the room as Wyndemere and the energy explodes. Why not keep doing that? (And then, of course, all that energy went to hell once the Ferrari Calendar sketch started.) On to the poll!

So, do you want the good news first or do you want the bad news? "The good news first," you may or may not have said? Well, the good news is that after a rare four week run of live shows, 'SNL' has two weeks off to recharge. And, wow, do they need it. I mean, could last night's Anna Faris monologue have been any more phoned in? It's always a bad sign when the writing staff resorts to "fake Q&A with the audience,' but, my God, at least sometimes those can still be funny. Also, more good news: Jason Sudeikis' pal Charlie Day will be the next host on November 5, which should bring some much needed comedic inspiration. Of course, the bad news: last night's show was somewhat awful. Also, Faris introduced the show as the "Halloween show" – but where was the Halloween? Where was Hader's Vincent Price sketch? Come to think of it, where was Anna Faris? Anna Faris is funny! Why wasn't she featured more often? Regardless, thankfully, near the end of the show, there were a couple of gems. (Actually, this show, for as bad as it was overall, had my two favorite sketches of the season.) On to the scorecard...

The quality of Saturday's show aside, this was the first week that really allowed the cast to be featured on the front lines. Which, yes, lead to a few shakeups in the Relevancy Poll. It is striking, though, to watch the differences in airtime that featured players Taran Killam and Paul Brittain have been receiving. Both guys seem extremely talented, yet Killam is getting more time than even a lot of the full-time cast members are while, at the same time, we are starting to worry about Brittain's future on the show.

Even though the results were disappointing, this week's 'SNL' was, again, very host-centric – meaning there wasn't a ton of lead-role airtime to go around for cast members. Though, Jay Pharoah managed to get his first sketch of the season on the air, while poor Paul Brittain was nearly shut out. But who leads the poll after the second week of the season? A show hosted by 'Bridesmaids' star Melissa McCarthy? It should be no surprise that the top spot goes to...

Someday Melissa McCarthy will be a good 'SNL' host. Her name will be mentioned alongside recent 'SNL' hosting phenoms like Jon Hamm and Justin Timberlake. Hell, if given some better than average material last night to back up her deliveries, we may already be mentioning her name as part of this class. Unfortunately, McCarthy did what she could with a writing staff that seemed to take the week off from writing anything interesting and, instead, just gave her a few sketches that resembled poor man's clones of 'Bridesmaids.' To be fair, this was probably to be expected with her first outing immediately following her breakthrough comedy role. But, now that this is out of the way, hopefully, next time, the writing staff will giver her more things to do than pour food on her head and have her fall down a flight of stairs. Alas, on to the scorecard...

The first week of 'Saturday Night Live' is in the books, which means it's once again time to go to the Relevancy Poll to see who's getting the most out of their airtime. (The final results of last year's poll are over here.) Host Alec Baldwin dominated the smaller sketches, and with a plethora of ensemble sketches (three in all), at least so far, it's hard to get a true gage on how things will play out in the cast. Though we did get a sense that Kristen Wiig seems to be back in full force -- after what could be considered a year off to finish and promote 'Bridesmaids'-- and that Jay Pharoah is still in the doghouse. Off to the poll:

Watching Alec Baldwin host 'SNL' – which he has now done a record 16 times -- has become a little like purchasing a recent album from the now disbanded R.E.M.: We know that we're going to get a solid effort – even great, at times -- but the truly memorable moments are from the first decade of work. A point Baldwin even kind of alludes to in last night's monologue. The first show of the season is usually a mixed bag at best (with last year's excellent Amy Poehler hosted effort a huge exception). "But they've had all summer to think of new ideas," is often a criticism levied at the first show of a season, but that's not really the way it works. With Baldwin as host and with the exact same cast as last year (with the only change being Nasim Pedrad promoted from featured player to cast member) there was hope that SNL's 37th season could come out firing on all cylinders. Nope. So, with that, welcome to another season of 'Saturday Night Live' and, yes, another season of SNL Scorecard!

This week's 'Saturday Night Live' (Saturday, 11:30 PM ET on NBC) cold-opened with a spoof of the 'Rachel Maddow Show,' in which Nancy Pelosi, played by Kristen Wiig, John Boehner, played by Bill Hader, and Charlie Rangel, played by Kenan Thompson, were guests.

It wasn't one of SNL stronger political skits, as most of the humor veered toward the cheap and obvious:

"Hello, young man," was how Rangel greeted Maddow. "Orange you glad I didn't mention the color of your face?" Maddow asked Boehner.

(S35E20) Like most of the public, I only knew Gabourey Sidibe from 'Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire' (Okay, seriously, if we're gonna do that, can we put it on the end of every movie adaptation of a novel? 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, based on the novel 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' by JK Rowling). It was one of those movies that I wasn't sure if I wanted to even watch because just looking at Sidibe in the trailers made me uncomfortable.

(S35E19) All in all, a pretty mediocre episode. Ryan Phillippe didn't seem to stretch himself in any way. Well, okay, okay, he dressed up as a chick for a sketch, but apart from that, there was no palpable attempt to celebrate the fact that Ryan Phillippe was hosting or play to his strengths. I mean, I won't pretend I know what those particular strengths are, but 'Saturday Night Live' usually does a fair job of letting hosts try something dramatically out of their comfort zone or play up something unexpected. There was no sense of that in this episode.

Maybe they wanted to keep the episode toned down to counter whatever amount of crazy Ke$Ha wanted to unleash. By the way, that girl looks like she perpetually smells like drugstore watermelon body spray and BO. If that's the look she's going for, she's really nailing it.

(S35E18) Tina Fey gives hope to all nerdy funny girls out there. You may be frumpy and strange now, girls, but all you have to do is work really hard, be yourself, create/write/star in a hit show with Alec Baldwin and become super-famous. Then you will finally be able to soothe the flame of self-hate this is currently raging within you. This is the only option to escape your ugly duckling phase. Sorry if you were convinced otherwise.

All right, seriously, this was a solid episode. It felt like Fey had a strong hand in what kind of material was being produced; most of the sketches worked very well for her. This was also the first time I had heard Justin Bieber. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

(S35E17) Congratulations, Jude Law. That was a solid episode all around and a fine return to the 'Saturday Night Live' stage. And despite the fact that Pearl Jam was virtually unrecognizable to any ears that haven't heard them since the early-'90s, at least Law's musical guest didn't have any reason to do an awkward hoedown during a career-crippling blunder.

Cold Open: Of course they had to talk about this. Of course. Now, if you haven't read up on the incredibly weird Eric Massa story, it probably would have seemed like 'SNL' was just making up most of it. Unfortunately, they weren't. Maybe that's why they felt that ridiculously long intro was necessary? Anyway, the treatment of this topic was all right, though the absolute best part was Bobby Moynihan as Massa, attempting stealth snorkeling on Andy Samberg (the weak distraction was especially nice). And no, sorry, you can't unsee it.

(S35E16) This was definitely one of the weirder installments of 'Saturday Night Live' in a while, but for fans of Zach Galifianakis, it was a real treat. It's very rare that the entire tone of the evening so perfectly fits the host. A lot of hosts, be they athletes or singers or professional actors, use 'SNL' as a platform for showcasing other talents that they have (or think they have) and that can often lead to strange, near unwatchable territory.

Galifianakis knows where's his strong points are and confidently played those up all through the episode. He is not at his best with cue card-heavy parts, but rather when he forces the audience to bask in his glorious, beardy, unsettling presence. So we got a lot of that. A lot. Response to this episode will probably be highly divided (well, more so than other weeks) but, speaking as a long-time fan of Galifianakis, it worked.

(S35E15) Someone at NBC or 'Saturday Night Live' sensed that you haven't thought about the music of Jennifer Lopez (no one calls her J. Lo anymore, right?) in about ten years, and in an effort to get "Waiting for Tonight" stuck in your head again, they brought her back. It was supposed to be some sort of double-whammy, a way for Lopez to promote her upcoming film, 'The Back-up Plan,' and her new album at the same time.

But then her label dropped her about a week ago and all ten people that were paying attention simultaneously tugged at their collars and went, "Ooh, awkward." These same people sat through her musical performances during this episode and, mid-cringe, mumbled, "Well, y'know. Bless her heart for trying."